Beatles fans break singing record

The Beatles, from left, John Lennon, Ringo Starr, George Harrison and Paul McCartney pose during a rehearsal of William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream in London, England, on April 29, 1964.

Photo: AFP

Fifty years after John Lennon’s harmonica heralded the first entry of the Beatles into the charts, fans came together in the Fab Four’s home town of Liverpool in northern England on Friday to deliver a record-breaking rendition of their debut single.

Aficionados poured in from as far afield as Peru and Tokyo for a weekend of live music and Beatlemania, which started with 1,631 people singing Love Me Do outside the city’s central Liver Building.

Local choirs, school groups and lunching office workers joined in, breaking the previous record for singing “in the round” — where two groups sing exactly the same melody, beginning at different times — to break the previous record of 897, according to Guinness World Records.

“The demographics here today are interesting — it goes from people in their 70s to school kids,” said Dave Jones, who runs Liverpool’s famous Cavern Club where the Beatles were the house band between 1961 and 1963, and which is staging a weekend-long extravaganza of their music.

“We’re trying to recreate the atmosphere of those glory days in the 60s,” Jones said. “It’s generation after generation enjoying the music.”

The 50th birthday of Love Me Do is also the anniversary of a lucky break for the band.

Beatles producer George Martin told the BBC the song was the “best of a bad bunch.” The broadcaster plans to air a documentary this weekend containing claims that the band’s manager bought thousands of copies to help the record get to No. 17 in the UK charts.

Meanwhile, original artwork for the Sgt. Pepper’s album may sell for as much as ￡80,000 (US$129,000), 50 years after the Beatles released their first record.

Peter Blake’s original collage for the insert in the 1967 album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band is included in Sotheby’s Nov. 13 auction of modern British art, the auction house said in an e-mailed release yesterday.

Owned by the late architect Colin St John Wilson, who designed the British Library in London’s St Pancras area, the collage has a minimum valuation of ￡50,000.

Blake worked closely with John Lennon and Paul McCartney to create the imagery of the album. The British Pop artist designed both the record sleeve and the insert, the latter featuring cut-out sergeant’s stripes and a clip-on moustache.

The Rolling Stones and the Beach Boys are also marking their 50th anniversary this year.

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